Swapped
by Extreme Light 9
Summary: In which Crash messes with one of Cortex's inventions and ends up switching bodies with him. Set during Crash Twinsanity.


**Swapped**

 **A/N: Hey everyone, after many years I finally got to play Crash Twinsanity once again and I was inspired to write this. I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Crash Bandicoot.**

 **XXXXXXXX**

Crash was humming quietly to himself as he walked around the lab. While Cortex was busy trying to locate the next Power Crystal, the bandicoot decided to look around to pass the time.

Suddenly, he stopped when he came across a table toppled with inventions. Raising an eyebrow, he made his way over and looked over them. One in particular caught his attention. It was black with green accents.

Crash grabbed the invention and began examining it curiously. He turned it over and noticed a button. Wanting to see what it does, he decided to press it.

"Crash, I have just found out where the next- WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Cortex exclaimed when he saw him messing with the device and tried to stop him, but it was too late. Crash pressed the button and his eyes widened when it began to whine ominously.

A sudden bright flash of light came from within the device, blinding the two and knocking them out.

 **XXXXXXX**

Cortex groaned, feeling his head spinning. He slowly sat up and rubbed his sore head which felt much strangely smaller than it used be and….it was covered in hair? He felt something else there. He touched the object and tugged on it lightly. Ears, much like a fox's. Blinking, he tried pulling one and winced in pain.

"What the-" It was then he became aware of how strange his body felt. He slowly looked down and saw his furry chest. Cortex's body went rigid and his mind short-circuited briefly before he let out a loud scream.

What happened to his body? Why was he covered in fur!?

Before he could inspect himself any further, he heard a low grunt to his left. He looked over to see himself, tongue sticking out of his mouth and a dazed expression on his own face. The look was silly and embarrassing and didn't fit him at all. It kind of reminded of….

The scientist's eyes widened in horror. "Crash?"

The other stiffened and turned to look at him in confusion. The two gaped at each other silently for a minute and then screamed at the top of their lungs.

"No, no, no! This can't be happening!" Cortex wailed as he stared at his fingerless gloves and denim pants, beyond mortified.

Crash seemed to share the same thought as he pulled at his hair as if it would somehow magically get him out of his body.

"What's going on here?" The two turned around to see Nina stepped into the room, glaring at them in annoyance.

"It's all his fault!" Cortex growled, pointing an accusing finger at Crash who looked down guiltily.

"What do you mean? What did my uncle do?" She asked with a raised brow.

"What- no! I'm Dr. Cortex and he's Crash!" He muttered, pointing at the two of them respectively.

"What?"

"That fool messed with one of my inventions and we switched bodies!" He huffed.

Nina watched him for a moment as if she didn't believe him and then her eyes widened. "Uncle Neo?"

"Yes!" He said in relief, glad she believed him, but his smile immediately fell when Nina burst into laughter.

The two watched her laugh for a moment and Cortex frowned. "You know, it's not that funny." he deadpanned.

"It's hilarious," She replied. "Why would you even invent something like that?"

"Why? Can you imagine all the schemes and deception I could do by being able to switch bodies with anyone I choose?" He said with a devious grin.

Nina smirked. "Well, how is that going for you now?" she asked and he glared at her.

"Hey, I'm bothered because I ended up in _his_ body of all people!" He exclaimed and gestured to Crash who was on knocking his fist against his head experimentally. "What are you even doing!?" He screeched.

"You have really big head," Crash said.

"Excellent observation." Cortex replied dryly. Crash grinned proudly as the sarcasm went over his head.

"Why don't you two just switch back?" Nina muttered.

"Right, let me just….oh." The scientist looked around only to find its broken pieces on the floor. "Of course," He grumbled, slapping his forehead in disbelief.

"Now what?" His niece asked.

"Get that idiot out of here and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid with my body. I'm going to try to fix the device." He stated.

"C'mon, you." Nina grabbed Crash by the hand and dragged him out of the room, leaving him alone in the room.

Cortex sighed and decided to start working right away. He picked up the broken pieces of his invention and placed them on the closest table. He took out a pair of rubber gloves from a drawer and replaced the fingerless ones he was wearing with them.

"Alright, this shouldn't be too hard," He said and began repairing it. This was certainly an odd experience to say the least. The fact that he was walking around in the bandicoot's body was quite strange and unnerving.

Cortex tried to not think about it, pretend that this was just another day of him working in his lab. Smiling to himself, Cortex reached for a screwdriver and continued tinkering with the device. He suddenly felt the urge to scratch his neck for some reason, but he paid it no mind.

That was easier said than done though when the feeling returned in his head and Cortex began scratching it furiously. _Why do I feel so itchy?_ He thought in annoyance and then remembered what he said when he lured Crash to that "party" a few days ago.

" _Like the flees in your fur, I keep coming back!"_

Oh no.

 **XXXXXXXXX**

"Alright, do a silly face!"

Crash didn't hesitate and gave a cross-eyed look with his tongue sticking out of mouth, flailing his arms around.

Nina snapped a picture of him with her phone. "Perfect!" She said with a smirk. She couldn't wait to show this to her uncle when this was over. Just then, the two heard a loud high-pitched scream through the walls.

"What was that?" She asked and Crash shrugged his shoulders.

After waiting for a while, Nina sighed, having got tired of playing babysitter. "Look, I'm gonna be leaving you now. You should be fine on your own, right? Okay, bye!" She said quickly and hurried out the room before Crash could say anything.

Crash frowned and scratched his head, having no idea what to do now. He really wished Coco or Aku-Aku were here to keep him company, but the mask had left somewhere with Uka-Uka and his sister was still paralyzed. The doctor assured him that it will wear off soon though.

Crash then reached into his pocket for his yo-yo, having forgotten that he was in Cortex's body and felt the man's gun in there instead. Crash blinked and then a huge grin crossed his face as he held the weapon in his hands.

Excited to try using it, he pointed at a nearby wall and pulled the trigger. However, the shot was lot more powerful than he expected and he ended up creating a smoking hole in the wall.

Gaping at what he did, Crash quickly stuffed the gun back into his pocket and fled the room, not wanting to get into trouble.

"Why are we doing this again?" Uka-Uka grumbled as the two mask flew back into the building.

"We need to check all the islands in case twins return and begin whatever plan they have." Aku-Aku answered.

"I can't believe we're wasting our time here when we could be stopping those two right now!" His brother huffed.

Aku-Aku raised an eyebrow at this. "If you have already forgotten we already tried taking them down before and didn't stand a chance against their powers. Fighting them a second time won't prove anything." He said, knowing fully well that his brother was suggesting this because his pride took a heavy blow back there.

Uka-Uka growled, but said nothing as they flew the hallway and noticed Cortex running their way. The man stopped when he saw them.

"Oh, hi!" He said cheerily and waved at them with a huge grin that didn't suit him at all before sprinting away.

Once he made it outside the building, he sighed in relief and then frowned at the soft rumbling in his stomach. He hadn't eaten anything since they came back from the Academy of Evil.

Glancing at the distant islands, Crash decided to go get some Wumpa fruit. He was about to hop on the boat when he suddenly remembered Cortex's teleportation trick. It will help him get there much faster. He had seen the man use it to get to far places many times before.

How hard can it be?

Shrugging, Crash thought about going to the islands and then began spinning, feeling his body become lighter. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself back in the jungle next to a Wumpa tree.

Grinning widely at his success and rubbing his hands together, Crash went over to pick some when he heard a low growl coming from behind him. Slowly, he turned around to see three dingoes baring their teeth at him viciously.

Smiling nervously, Crash snatched one fruit from the ground and ran away screaming.

 **XXXXXXX**

The two masks watched the scientist disappear around the corner in confusion. "What has gotten into that man?" Uka-Uka muttered.

The two didn't dwell on the scientist's uncharacteristic behavior for long and went to the lab room only to come across a much weirder sight. Crash was standing behind a table tinkering with one of Cortex's device with startling amount of concertation on his face.

His fur was also disheveled for some reason.

It wasn't long until the bandicoot noticed the two speechless masks in the room. "What?" he asked grouchily.

"Uhh….." Aku-Aku opened his mouth, many questions swirling in his mind, but only one managed to come out. "What are you doing?"

"If you must to know, I am merely fixing this broken device. Now leave me be," He said hotly and Aku-Aku gaped at this. Since when did _Crash_ talk like that!? The bandicoot speaking was a rarity in itself, but the way he spoke to him completely threw him off too.

"W-wait, since when you know how to do that? And why Cortex would let you use his things!?" Aku-Aku stammered.

Cortex ran a hand through his hair in frustration, wanting to spare himself the humiliation of letting someone else know of their embarrassing predicament, but he saw no other way to explain any of this. "That's because I am Cortex,"

Aku-Aku blinked at him. "Is….is this some sort of game you two are playing?"

Cortex sighed and explained everything to the two masks which resulted in Uka-Uka laughing at their expense.

"I can always count on you two to keep me entertained!" He said through his laughter.

"Well, I'm sorry to ruin your "fun", but I've finished fixing the body switching device." Cortex said dryly, having also added some adjustments so it wouldn't knock them out after using it. "Now I just need to get Crash from Nina and this whole nightmare will be over."

It wasn't long until they found Nina in the break room reading a magazine. "Oh there you are Nina, I've fixed the device. Where is Crash?"

Nina blinked. "Uhhh…"

Cortex barely resisted the urge to scream to the ceiling.

 **XXXXXXX**

" _You left him all by himself!?"_ Cortex screeched as they ran through the hallway.

"I didn't think he'll wander off!" Nina muttered.

"Great, that idiot could be anywhere by now!" He shouted. "Imagine the insane things he might be doing to my body or worse, my beautiful brain!"

"Well, I'm sure he couldn't have gone far." Aku-Aku said helpfully as they stood outside the building, hoping to calm the scientist down.

Cortex squinted around the snowy fields for Crash. The idea of being stuck like this for any longer was unbearable. Where could that fool have gone-

Just then, they all yelped when Crash suddenly appeared in front of them. He was clutching a Wumpa fruit in his hands with tears in his coat and pants and a dazed look in his eye. When he noticed them there, he smiled and rubbed his neck nervously.

Cortex stared at him, at a loss of words. "Where on earth were you? How did you learn how to do that? When did - you know what? Forget it. I don't care, let's just get this over with!"

Cortex held out the black device and pointed it at Crash. He then pressed the button and it whined like before, flashing a bright light that blinded them briefly.

Cortex glanced down at himself and grinned. "Yes, I'm back in my own body….and ow, everything hurts," He grunted, feeling the soreness from whatever Crash had gone through in his body. He noticed Crash reaching for the Wumpa fruit in the snow and he snatched it from him. "Give me that! Since you caused this whole mess, I'll be taking this!" He said and Crash groaned.

"Umm…..Cortex?"

"What?" He glanced up at the two mask and immediately noticed the odd expressions on their faces. While Uka-Uka seemed uneasy, Aku-Aku was giving them an angry scowl he was _very_ familiar with.

"The first one to make a joke out of this will pay!" Uka-Uka growled.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **A/N: Thanks for reading. Crash Twinsanity is my favorite in the series actually. I remember getting this game back in 2006 or maybe 2007 and beating it over five times.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading and please review!**


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